I Got It! (more on relievers-turned-starters)

Byung-Hyun Kim. Motherfucker is third in the line of evidence suggesting Braden Looper's arm is going to explode this year.

First, though, thanks to Midre and our other reader, Daniel, for suggesting other examples of relievers-turned-starters. However, I think the thing that distinguishes Graves, Riedling, and Looper from the likes of Gossage, Leiter, Pedro, Ryan, and even Derek Lowe is that the former three were used exclusively as relievers for at least three years in the majors prior to being converted to full time starters (Graves had only made 3 starts in the minors, Riedling pitched terribly in 74 minor league startes, and Looper last started 9 years ago at A level). All of the latter dudes started lots in the minors or majors before relieving in the majors for a short time.

After racking my brain for awhile, the only other pitcher I could come up with that fits this criteria is Byung-Hyun Kim, who had only one start in the majors and 5 in the minors before converting to starter in 2003. He happens to show the same trend as Graves and Riedling:

before: 3.21 ERA, 1.18 WHIP
after: 4.62 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, on the trade block with the Rockies

I'm sure there's an exception somewhere. I just hope it doesn't end up being Looper.

It's Not in the *CARDS* This Year!!!!! HA HA HA!!!

See, I can be a sports-column titler too!

Anyways, I know I'll probably eat these words later, but one of the most exciting things about the upcoming baseball season for a Reds fan has to be how much the Cardinals are going to blow this year.

The latest reports have Edmonds and Encarnacion starting the season on the DL, which honestly makes me want to skip gaily through a field of flowers and butterflies.

But I first started feeling that me and Cardinals' suckiness might have a romantic spark when I read this article by the Enquirer's Kevin Kelly a couple weeks ago that discusses the Cards' grand plans to turn Braden Looper into a starter. I'm not sure why Kelly was writing about the Cardinals, per se, but I like to think that he was snickering at their hopelessness while doing so.



So here's the situation:
...okay, wait, lemme check....yep, that actually did happen....The World Series Champs have lost 3/5ths of their starting rotation in the offseason (Weaver, Suppan, and Marquis) not to mention they won't have Mark Mulder back until midseason at the earliest...all the while acquiring zero other pitchers of note (the most classic of wash-ups Kip Wells as well as Ryan Franklin) and talking about turning both Looper and fellow reliever Adam Wainwright into starters.
O Glorious day!

Here's what Yadier Molina had to say about the Cards' pretty bad pitching staff:

"We've got a pretty good pitching staff," Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina said. "It's just getting them to feel comfortable. You just try to communicate with them, see what they like and what they don't like, what they like to throw in certain counts and what they don't like to throw.

"Communication is going to be an important part of this process."

Yes, Yadier, if by "communication" you actually mean "acquiring reliable starting pitchers."

But the best part is the whole Looper thing (gosh, it's making me tingle!), because it makes me think fondly of how the Reds are no longer sweating-ass making desperate moves to fill in their Bowden-neglected rotation with the likes of formerly good relievers like Danny Graves and John Riedling.

I welcome your terrible ideas with all of my heart, LaRussa. Here are the stats for Graves and Riedling before and after they were made sacrificial lambs for Bowden's inability to develop/acquire/give a shit about starting pitching:

Graves (switched at age 29, never more than 110 innings pitched)
-before: 3.32 ERA, 1.32 WHIP
-after: 5.10 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, out of league

Riedling (switched at 27, never more than 47 innings pitched)
-before: 2.54 ERA, 1.25 WHIP
-after: 4.99 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, out of league

Looper, btw, is older (31) and worse (career 3.57 ERA with a 1.37 WHIP) than Graves and Riedling were at the time and has never pitched more than 86 innings in a season. And, for historical context, Derek Lowe (whose anomalistic success as a reliever-turned-starter in 2002 (at age 29) sparked the trend) had 31 major league starts under his belt before that and had pitched over 109 innings in back-to-back years.

Not that I'm complaining. Please, LaRussa, ignore the evidence and kill your best relievers. Don't mind us! We'll just go ahead and find a way to lose out to the Cubs instead.

So thank the Lord, it seems as though the tables may actually be turning- Say what you will about Krazy Krivsky, but the fact is that for the first time in, Jesus, I dunno, 98 years, the Reds have more than 3-4 pitchers capable of starting with some success in the big leagues...and the Cardinals have only 2 (Carpenter + .5Kip Wells (still exists???)+.5Anthony Reyes)! And that makes me giddy.

Someday maybe I'll write about a team I don't hate.

We Must Encourage This Good Behavior

Good Starky Warky! Who's your buddy?! Is he Fluffy McAdamsers?! Whooza good BOY?! Whooza?! Izz it YOOOOO?!??!?

Yes, it is you, ESPN, because gosh darn it all if you didn't publish TWO Reds-centric articles in one single day! And they weren't stupid or uninformed, either!

First, we have Jayson Stark maybe halfway acknowledging ESPN's eastcoast bias (maybe more under the guise of "big market bias") by HOLYCOWingly introducing the nation to last year's NL batting champ (freaky Freddy Sanchez of the Midwest Whatevers) and wins/strikeout champ (Aaron Harang, whatwhat!!). So I'm happy about that, except, geez, I mean, it is March. Apparently even Mr. Useless Info found a way to overlook these guys for the 5 months that have passed since the regular season ended.

Second, Salisbury Sean McAdam (if C. Trent can make up 49 nicknames/post, so can I) writes some nice things about the Reds closer situat...but Jesus Christ, oh my god, I'm just re-reading this right now and realizing that fuck-of-all-things he HAS to compare the Reds possible "closer-by-committee" approach to that used by....THE RED SOX apparently in 2003.

Goddammit, Salisbury, it doesn't count as a non-eastcoasty article if the entire first paragraph is exclusively about the fucking Red "Scrotum" Sox.

Oh, NOW I see, the ONLY reason he writes about the Reds is because Jerry "Jrr Nrr" Narron used to be a Scrotum Sock:

Narron, in fact, understands better than most. He was the Red Sox bench
coach in 2003, when "closer-by-committee" famously sputtered and became a daily talking point among the anxious fan base.

Famously sputtered?! FAMOUSLY SPUTTERED?! Famous to WHOM, pray tell?! Who the fuck outside of -or, shit- even inside Boston remembers this, much less is going to be lumbering around their space-age nursing home in 50 years reminiscing about the dramatic heart-string-pulling, angst generating, in-pants-urinating 2003 Boston Red Sox closer-by-committee saga?!?!?

Damn you, McAdam, I was almost ready to forgive you for flagrabiasingly declaring Boston's bullpen as the Cold-Plate Special, but wow, I guess the futility of Boston's bullpen is a huge sticking point for you, isn't it? You dick.

I swear I wasn't planning to bitch when I started writing this and the truth is that it's a decent article besides the obvious urge to make the Red Sox the focus, so I'll try to be constructive. See, there's a MUCH better and WAY MORE relevant comparison McAdam could make. Especially since, when you think about it, there is absolutely no reason to use the Red Sox (except the Narron driving through Boston excuse) because how many other teams have used the closer-by-committee approach at some point in the past 4 years?!

Here's an example of a team that did it successfully, and is relevant because it's the same team the article is ostensibly about in the first place: the 1999 Cincinnati Reds

Danny Graves: 3.08 ERA, 27 saves
Scott Williamson: 2.41 ERA, 12 saves
Scott Sullivan: 3.o1 ERA, 3 saves
Stan Belinda, Gabe White, Dennys Reyes: 2 saves each

And, y'know what, I think Scotty Williamson even pitched for Boston a year and a half as did Stan Belinda, way back during Boston's Great Bullpen of Death of 1995-96(McAdam, 2007). So there's your flimsy tie-in.



References Cited

McAdam, Sean. "BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON BULLPEN BULLPEN DID YOU KNOW BOSTON HAD A BULLPEN SOMETIMES IT IS GOOD SOMETIMES IT IS BAD I LOVE BOSTONBOSTON REDSOX." Daddy's Scratchy Face Inc. Bristol, Connecticut 2007. 17,399 pages.